*The following narrative is from one of our HIV-positive scholarship applicants. It has been minimally changed to remove any identifying information.*
At the age of 51, I have been HIV-positive for more than half of my life. In the summer of 1990, I received my diagnosis while living in New York City. I was 25 years old. I will never know for certain how I contracted the virus. At the time, I was in a two-year monogamous relationship with an HIV-positive partner and we vigilantly practiced safe sex. My biannual HIV tests were routinely negative until that summer. Of course, I was surprised